Wisner has represented the families of victims of almost every commercial air crash of the past decade, both in the U.S. and abroad, obtaining multi-million dollar payments for his clients. Wisner also has successfully represented victims of air cargo, charter, and general aviation crashes. The following is a brief discussion of only some of our extensive aviation experience:

American Airlines Flight 587

World Trade Center Attacks

Singapore Airlines Flight 006

Egypt Air Flight 990

Swiss Air Flight 111

TWA Flight 800

Garuda Indonesia Flight 152

Garuda Indonesia Flight 421

LAPA Flight 3142

Austral Flight 2553

Fine Air Flight 101

Emery Air Flight 17

Commercial Air Crashes–United States

American Airlines Flight 587  [Return to Top]

On November 12, 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, on takeoff from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport bound for the Dominican Republic, lost its vertical tail and crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood, killing all on board and 5 others on the ground. Wisner served as a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee which obtained evidence that the crash was caused by the negligence of both the airline American and the aircraft manufacturer Airbus. The American Airline pilot used excessive rudder input when the plane encountered turbulence, placing stress on the tail. Airbus used a less reliable composite material in its design and manufacture of the tail of the aircraft.

Wisner obtained confidential multi-million dollar settlements for his clients. His work, and that of others, also led to revisions by American in its training of its flight crews and its operating procedures and it brought to the public eye safety concerns regarding the use of composites in aircraft structures. Wisner was interviewed by Great Britain television on the subject of composite material used in aircraft manufacturing.

World Trade Center Attacks  [Return to Top]

Everyone knows all too well the horrific events of September 11, 2001. What is coming more to light now, however, are the shameful lapses in security by the nation’s two largest air carriers and their security companies.

Wisner represented three young widows before the Victims Compensation Fund, obtaining awards significantly greater than the published standard awards. Wisner also obtained one of the first, multi-million dollar confidential settlements in a lawsuit brought against United Airlines and others for the family of a man working in the Towers.

Singapore Airlines Flight 006  [Return to Top]

Singapore Airlines Flight 006, en route from Taipei to Los Angeles, crashed while attempting a takeoff during a typhoon on a closed runway. Some passengers were killed while others sustained serious injuries. The disaster was compounded by the fact that the Boeing aircraft’s evacuation slides, manufactured by the Goodrich Corp., either failed to open or opened inside the plane, blocking the escape of some passengers.

Wisner and others, working in the U.S. and Singapore, successfully obtained favorable settlements from the obviously culpable airline and also aggressively pursued actions against Boeing and Goodrich. The case presented complex jurisdictional issues under the Warsaw Convention, an international treaty, and the doctrine of forum non conveniens. Wisner argued these issues before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Egypt Air Flight 990  [Return to Top]

This Boeing 767 aircraft, traveling from New York to Cairo, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantucket, Massachusetts on October 31, 1999, killing all on board. The U.S. crash investigators immediately raised the specter of pilot suicide, but any “evidence” of such mass homicide soon evaporated upon close examination by Wisner and other plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Wisner serves as a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and represents families of 48 victims in an action against Boeing and a component part manufacturer, Parker Hanifin Corp. The litigation continues and centers on a failure in the design of the aircraft’s flight control systems.

Swiss Air Flight 111  [Return to Top]

On September 2, 1998, shortly into the flight, the crew of Swiss Air 111, heading from New York to Switzerland, reported smoke in the cockpit. The McDonnell Douglas MD 11 subsequently crashed into the waters of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, killing all 229 on board.
Wisner again served as a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee while representing families of American and French victims. Evidence indicated that the fire and resulting crash was caused by defects in the design and installation of the in-flight entertainment system. Wisner solved thorny jurisdiction and venue issues in obtaining very favorable recoveries for his clients. The crash and ensuing litigation also led to the issuance of numerous safety advisories and airworthiness directives by operators, manufacturers and government regulators.

TWA Flight 800  [Return to Top]

In this tragic occurrence, the Boeing 747, en route from New York to Paris, blew up in flight off Long Island, New York on July 17, 1996. An intensive investigation by the US FBI found no evidence of a bomb or missile strike, as initially feared.
A comprehensive independent investigation and legal discovery conducted by Wisner and other members of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee instead found that the aircraft had exploded when the volatile air-fuel mixture in the aircraft’s nearly empty center wing fuel tank was ignited. Wisner and others were able to demonstrate how an ignition source could have entered the center tank, a scenario the Boeing engineers insisted could not occur.

Wisner helped his clients obtain multi-million dollar settlements, including substantial payments to the families of a couple in their 80's survived by non-dependent adult children and a teenaged young man survived by his parents. The lawsuits also led to orders for the inspection and replacement of aircraft wiring and to revisions in fuel tank design to eliminate ignition sources and to prevent the build-up of the volatile fuel-air mixture in the first instance.

Commercial Air Crashes–Outside the United States

Silk Air Flight 185  [Return to Top]

On December 19,1997, a Silk Air Boeing 737 unexplainedly went out of control during flight and crashed near Palembang, Indonesia. All onboard perished. Boeing immediately claimed the Singaporean pilot had committed suicide, taking everyone else with him. Boeing found an ally in the U.S. NTSB which supported the Boeing suicide theory.

However, Wisner and the other lead plaintiffs’ attorneys refused to accept this explanation. Wisner and others first defeated a motion by Boeing to transfer the case to Singapore or Indonesia, a move which would have effectively allowed Boeing to escape all responsibility. After an extensive independent investigation and an extremely difficult 8 year battle with the defendants, Wisner and the other plaintiffs’ attorneys were able to establish that the crash was caused, not by an intentional act by the pilot, but by a defect in the aircraft’s power control unit. Wisner obtained confidential multi-million dollar settlements for his Singaporean, Japanese, and Austrian clients. These settlements are believed to be the highest ever paid to non-Americans in the crash of a foreign airline.

Garuda Indonesia Flight 152  [Return to Top]

Indonesia suffered the worst aviation disaster in its history on September 26, 1997 when Garuda Flight 152 crashed into a hillside on approach to Medan, resulting in 224 deaths. The Garuda pilot was off course and flying below his assigned altitude, making the airline the most obvious responsible party. However, jurisdiction for an action against this State-owned airline was available only in Indonesia. Therefore, Wisner looked to other responsible parties to obtain fair compensation for his 28 Indonesian and European clients.
Wisner brought an action in the U.S. against Sundstrand Corp., the U.S. manufacturer of the Ground Proximity Warning Computer (GPWC) on the accident aircraft, and established that the GPWC had failed to give the flight crew a timely alert of approaching terrain. Had the GPWC operated as warranted, the crash would have been avoided and 224 lives saved. After 5 years of hard-fought litigation, Wisner obtained settlements for his clients which again stand as record payments to non-Americans in a foreign domestic air crash.
Wisner represents the children of 58 additional victims of this crash in continued litigation against the defendant Sundstrand.


Garuda Indonesia Flight 421  [Return to Top]

This Garuda flight plunged into the Solo River after both General Electric engines of the Boeing aircraft suffered a flame out when the aircraft flew through a thunderstorm. Miraculously, most of the passengers suffered only minor physical injuries, yet Wisner still was able to obtain very favorable settlements for his 38 clients in a lawsuit against Boeing and General Electric. Wisner was able to negotiate these settlements while a motion by the defendants to transfer the action to Indonesia was pending before the U.S. court. This crash and resulting suit also led to safety changes as to the subject engines.

LAPA Flight 3142  [Return to Top]

This local Argentine airline crashed on takeoff from Buenos Aires when the pilots failed to correctly set the flaps, despite a warning horn blaring in their ears. Many passengers died and others suffered serious burns and other injuries.

Among the victims was a young American woman whose family was faced with the prospect of attempting to obtain fair compensation for their grievous loss in the courts of Argentina. Wisner brought suit against the Argentine airline LAPA in Georgia and defeated a hotly-contested motion by LAPA to transfer the action to Argentina, a motion which was argued by LAPA and defeated by Wisner, up to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Wisner then obtained a very favorable settlement for his clients based upon U.S. settlement values for the case.

Austral Flight 2553  [Return to Top]

This local Argentine aircraft spun wildly out of control during flight, crashing into a field in Uruguay and killing all on board. The crash is a vivid example of how air crashes often result from a combination of factors, in this case weather, dispatch, pilot error and miscommunication, equipment failures, and defective aircraft and component part design.

In the representation of his 56 Argentine clients, Wisner was faced with the most obvious responsible party being the airline Austral, a purely domestic Argentine airline, an Argentine law which limited the amount of damages recoverable against the airline, Austral, to $75,000 and with the defense of forum non conveniens, often used by even U.S. defendants to avoid U.S. jurisdiction and compel cases arising from foreign crashes to be heard in foreign courts.

Wisner initially secured U.S. jurisdiction over the Argentine airline, Austral, which operated only in Argentina. He then carefully built a product liability case against McDonnell Douglas Co., the aircraft manufacturer, and against Smiths Industries, the manufacturer of the defectively-designed airspeed indicator. After several years of very difficult litigation, including arguments by Wisner before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and the Florida Appellate Court, Wisner obtained confidential settlements for all his clients far in excess of the limits of Argentine law.

Cargo Plane Crashes

Fine Air Flight 101  [Return to Top]

Wisner represented the families of the co-pilot and flight engineer killed in the crash of a Fine Air cargo flight on August 7, 1997 in Miami, Florida. Wisner established that the cargo loaders had changed the distribution of the load in order to fit certain cargo. The flight crew, which had set the plane’s center of gravity controls based upon the now-changed loading plan, was not told of the change. The crew could not recover the aircraft from its consequent nose up attitude and the aircraft crashed.

The defendant loading company raised the defense that it was engaged in a joint venture with the crew’s employer, Fine Air, making Wisner’s clients employees of the loading company and limiting their remedy to workers’ compensation. Wisner was able to refute this potentially dispositive, complex legal defense and obtained multi-million dollar settlements for his clients. Wisner also provided information to the U.S. Attorney which assisted the government in bringing criminal charges, and imposing criminal penalties, against this cargo carrier.

Emery Air Flight 17  [Return to Top]

On February 16, 2000, Emery Air Flight 17 crashed on takeoff from Sacramento airport, killing the three crew members. Wisner represented the widow and mother of the flight engineer. Through extensive investigation and legal discovery, including numerous depositions and witness interviews, Wisner and the attorneys representing the two other crew members were able to establish that the crash occurred when a flight control failed as the result of the negligent failure of a maintenance contractor, to replace and properly secure a critical bolt during a recent maintenance overhaul.

Wisner again was faced with a forceful argument by the maintenance contractor that it was the negligence of the crew’s employer, Emery, in performing other maintenance on the aircraft, which caused the deadly mistake. Wisner defeated this argument and obtained a multi-million dollar settlement for his clients.